Look out below
by signourney
Summary: AU - "What are you doing here this early anyway. I'm sure it's only just morning. Aren't you suppose to be having your beauty sleep still now. God knows you two need it." [Summary inside] [discontinued]
1. prologue

**Look out Below**

**By: Signourney**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any of the beyblade characters but I suppose that is pretty obvious. I do own my own characters however. I own Kester. He is my pretty full man _sticks out tongue_ And you can't have him. _clings possesivly wink_

**Summary:** AU Tala Ivanov and his younger brother return to their hometown Bakuten for the second time on a year. First their older brother, and now their parents are dead. As they stay there for a while, Tala starts to discover things around his brother and parents deaths. it seems they weren't who he thought they were, it seems he isn't who he thought he was.

**A.N: **Have a habit of putting either Tala, Johnny or Kai a the main characters. _shrug_ force o habit I suppose. Just used to writing them a bit more then the others. I also seem to have a habit of adding in the fav characters of my closest friends sweatdrop So yeah LOL. Mainish shall be Tally and Johnny of the beyblade characters and I'm sure I'll be able to make Kai mainish sooner or later XD I'll try to not make it to angsty () but shrug it's needed every now and then right. There is no story without a tiny bit of angst out there me thinks. dies me no good with thoughts of people reflecting on the loss of their loved once. I'm not one of those people that keep thinking about it constantly and cry. shrug Just not in me so I suppose I'm not very sure of how his thought patterns would go entirely when it came down to this subject. But aah I shall learn...one day _winks_ kicks fanfic Blah sure this will pose a nice challenge for my writing skills pouts Haven't written in a long time (at least not bey fanfics) so please don't kill me for any mistakes yes

Now go read and review and make me happy _wink_

* * *

**Prologue **

A soft sigh passed his lips as he stood for the closed room, his hand on the door knob yet not opening the door. To say it had been a while since he had last set foot into the room, would be an understatement. How long had it been? Two, three years maybe. He never imagined that the next time he'd set a foot into this room, without his permission, would be under these circumstances. God, he missed him so much.

He dropped his eyes to the ground. Could he deal with going into the room? So much memories lay in that room. Most of them he treasured, others he'd rather forget. His red bangs swayed along with the way he shook his head lightly. It hadn't been fair! None of this was fair at all! Why did he have to leave them, why did they have to leave them? Lauri, their parents. Why?

His head connected with the door hard as the memories of the last year passed him by in his mind. He closed his eyes. Just one year ago his older brother, Laurence, had been killed after he had jumped of the cliff. It hadn't been suicide. That's how much he knew for sure about it. Everyone thought it was, but he knew it wasn't, the same went for the rest of the family. It couldn't be. It was not the way Lauri was at all. He frowned upon such thoughts. There was just something about it all that had not felt right but the police had let it go. It had been an open book to them apparently even though they had kept telling them that it was just not like Lauri to jump of a cliff in any circumstance. Besides he hadn't even been depressed or anything like that.

It had bothered him, more then he let on. But he had let it go as it seemed what everyone wanted him to do. But he kept it in the back of his minds at all times. As the year passed on, he'd slightly recovered from the loss with much help from his younger brother, Kester (who had been just as affected as him, if not even more, but tried not to show) and his best friend, Bryan. He knew they were his undying support forever. Lauri had been too.

Lauri had been the one to keep his younger brother in check and protected their even younger brother Kester, himself always being a very calm, cool and relaxed person. Maybe even to relaxed at times. Bad grades hadn't seem to bother him much, much to the dismay of their parents. It was the reason he had been at Bakuten around the time of his death. He had dropped out of college and returned home, telling them that it just hadn't suited him at all, that he hadn't belonged there. Not that their parents had fallen for that. They knew he had been practicly kicked out for not putting an effort in it at all. They weren't stupid...hadn't been stupid, he meant. He kept forgetting, it seemed so unreal.

Tears welled up and he desperately kept his eyes closed in an attempt to stop them. A few weeks back, about a month or so now, after he and Bryan (they were roommates) had just gotten back from the movies with some other friends, he had gotten a disturbing phone call. Both his parents had died. Cause of death: hearth attack. He had picked up Kes and had hurried to get back to Bakuten, their hometown. God, why did this happen to them? First Lauri and now their parents. Why was this happening?

He knew they had been old, mid sixties, but they had always seemed so healthy and energetic. They never had any problems with their health for so far he could remember. Not even back when he was still a child. He supposed sometimes it even happened to people who were healthy because they were old but still. It bothered him, it nibbled at the back of his mind uncontrollably like the death of Lauri had. But he wasn't ready yet to think about it. Not ready yet. There was more that nibbled at the back of his head.

He hit his head again and again against the door before he straightened himself. He felt eyes staring him right in the back. He knew who it was. Turning around, he quickly wept away his tears. He wouldn't let him see him this way. He had to be strong. He was the oldest brother now. He had to protect him, like Lauri did, and so far he had done a horrible job if he had so say so himself.

In front of him now stood a short boy that replaced the door that had been in his vision first, he could be no taller then 1.65 m, his name being Kester Ivanov. His large round soft blue eyes looked at him with a mingle of sadness, worry and hurt in them. It nipped at him. He noted that Kesters eyes were slightly red, as if he just had been crying. That nipped at him even more so. The red hair that usually already was so messy, was even messier now. The boy looked like he had been to hell and back, if he had to be frankly honest. There were bags under his eyes. He knew the boy hadn't been able to sleep ever since they had gotten back into their old house.

"Are you oke, Tala?" Kester asked sofly, almost whispering as he twirled around the cord of his overly large grey sweatpants. He lopsided his head slightly as he looked up to his big brother.

"Yeah, I'm oke." Tala answered him, rubbing his eyes a little. He got the feeling the roles were a little reversed here. Wasn't he suppose to ask that question?  
His younger brother wasn't the only one that hadn't had much sleep, he thought has he stifled a yawn. Troubles kept him up at night and let him go just before the sun came up. Two hours of sleep this night was the most he had ever since...

He closed the distance between them and ruffled his hair, making it even messier. "Hey." The boy argued, but without much energy spiking behind it.

"Go to bed Kessy." Tala told him softly.

"But it's 8.00 pm!" Kester said with unbelief. What was he, a little child? He wouldn't be surprised if Tala did actually still look at him that way. Being the youngest was not such an easy task as it seemed.

"Just do it." He said with a sharp voice, but quickly adding to it but softer, when he saw the look on the boys face. "You need the sleep. You look like hell." A soft amusing tone carried his soft voice now and a smile now accented the tips of his mouth.

Kester sighed. He supposed it was best to not defy his brother at this point. He didn't want to make him angry and it was better making him think he was taking good care of his younger brother (not that he wasn't). If not, it would only upset him further. So the boy sighed in defeat and nodded.

* * *

"Fucking hell." He yelled out as he narrowed his violet eyes. Where the hell did these idiots come from? More importantly, how did they know they were here? He thought as he fended off one of the men that had ambushed them. But those were questions that would have to be answered later as he was a bit busy now. He backed away as a sword was swung at him and almost tumbled backwards. Luckily for him he had a good sense of balance as he kept himself from falling straight onto his ass.

This however did pose an opportunity for his attacker and the man took it quickly. The man pushed his sword forward, aiming at his heart. Johnny however saw and shifted his body enough so the sword would not pierce his heart but another part of his body. His shoulder. The pain shot through him as the metal connected with his flesh. He let out a groan and closed his eyes for a second as the sword was pulled back out of him. When he opened his eyes however there were flames dancing into the violet that had slowly turned to a darker version. But the man with the sword did not notice as he laughed triumphantly putting a few meters in between them again, very ready to let his sword pierce the man in front of him again.

He clutched his shoulder with his arm, eyes narrowing once more. If the man thought he was defeated, he was poorly mistaken. His eyes darted from his opponent to the ground for a second and soon found what he was looking for, his sword. It was to far away. Damnit. Battling with just his hands was out of the question because of his injury. He would have to use his power which he really didn't want to do, it would waste precious energy. Energy he really couldn't waste at this stage but unfortunately he had to.

As the man was still gloating a little, not striking yet which was rather stupid he thought, he concentrated and relaxed his free hand. Soon a bowl of light began emanating from his hand and with a poof flames danced on his hand. He smirked softly much to the confusion of his opponent who had at that moment chosen to attack again. He let him come close by, knowing he could stay away from the swords point this time. The last time he had been caught of guard, the result of almost falling on his ass. But this time no, this time Johnny Mcgregor was ready.

The man came running at him, still that hint of confusion clear on his face. He hadn't bothered though, to look to closely at the red flamed shaped haired boy in front of him. If he had he might have seen the flames dancing on the boys hand and in his eyes and would've put another thought into attacking him again but he was to preoccupied with the injury his opponent had and the hunger he had to slice him again. He was still so inexperienced, but he had figured he wouldn't learn anything from being careful and had plunged into every fight like a chicken without it's head. Just as he did now.

And Johnny just let him come. He watched his movements carefully. From the running to the movements of his arms to pierce him once again with the sword. But the sword never reached anywhere near Johnny's flesh as he jumped away this time, landing on his feet to the side of the man who was to surprised to react for a moment. Johnny took this time to form a bowl of fire and haul it at him.

He closed his eyes as he heard the screams of his opponent as he was burned alive. Even though he had burned quite a numerous of enemies by now, he never really did get used to their screams. Or their bodies burning down, he thought as he swallowed. But growing up in a war, he had since long learned that you could not have sympathy for the enemy cause they wouldn't show it to them. It was either kill or get killed and no other alternative.

Shaking his head, he returned back to the actual battle field. His violet eyes swirled around. He noted there weren't many men still left standing and smirked softly. The men had obviously not been prepared all to well or else they wouldn't have been so easily defeated by three boys.

A blond boy waved at him from the other side of the open field. "You okay over there, Johnny?"

"Yes." He yelled back, smile slowly making it's away upon his face, knowing damned well that the boy would not see it because he was to far away, as it should be. He rarely smiled but rather smirked. The man behind him however could see him smile. The smile disappeared, faster as it had appeared.

"You got hurt, Mcgregor." The voice stated.

Johnny merily sighed. "Geez, really?" He asked a little irritated as he turned around. In front of him stood a boy who was slightly taller then him (which bothered him more then he would ever let on!) with blue messy hair. The eyes were the same color of blue and had a hint of amusement in them as they were directed at him. His mouth was lifted up in a smirk. A smirk he oh so hated.

"You sure you can fight with that?" He asked. Johnny knew he didn't ask that because he cared so much.

"Absolutely."

"Well then you can show it to me in a minute." The blue eyes flickered away from him and to something behind him. Or more someone. A lot of someones!

* * *

He hesitated as he stood in front of the door. A soft sigh past his lips before he looked at his watch. It was 10.00 pm. Two hours ago his brother had told him to get some sleep. Well he had tried and failed. Thoughts had kept spinning in his mind, twirling and twirling around, making him on the verge of insanity. Not that he didn't cross that line a long time ago. Being a worry-wart was not always a positive thing, but then, had it ever been?

The reason he was standing in front of the door of Lauri's bedroom was because he was curious. After Lauri's death their parents had kept everything in the room in tact. Yet every time they had visited in the last year, no one had dared to enter the room, there was something with the room that had made them walk past it with a bow and not just because the owner of the room had died. And that made him curious.

So here he was now, standing in front of the door, hesitating. If he wanted to find out anything, he had to go inside. That pushed him over the edge, and he twisted the doorknob, swinging the door open.

Their parents really had kept it just the same as he remembered the room of his brother. It was white, very white. The walls had been painted white and most of the furniture in there was white as well or was painted white. Even the floor was white, with the exception of the soft blue carpet, as was the ceiling. He smiled at it sadly. White had been Lauri's favorite color even though it wasn't a color to begin with. He had tried telling Lauri that a numerous of times but he had always shrugged it off. Not that he didn't believe him, just that he didn't care about such things. It didn't bother him white wasn't a color, as long as he could enjoy white he was fine.

The room wasn't very big, unlike his and Tala's, but Lauri hadn't minded. He had said that he didn't need much space. Plus, the bigger the room, the bigger chance you had of losing something, he had told them. It was true, Lauri hadn't needed much space most of the time, you could tell from his room. There wasn't much furniture in it at all. Just his bed that, was in the left corner near the window when you entered the room, his desk, that was in the other corner, and a closet, that was just behind the door, he remembered.

Slowly, Kester shuffled inside, still a bit cautious. It was strange to be in his room, now he was gone. He remembered that his brother had never liked them coming in his room ever since Tala had puked in it once. Lauri had been away for a few days with his friends and would be returning Saturday evening. Tala just chose that evening to become drunk for the first time. He had been just eleven years old and so had his friends been but they had wanted to experiment. So he had gotten drunk, very drunk. And when he got home, he had entered the wrong room and puked it all under before collapsing on the bed. Lauri, who came home one hour after Tala had been rather pissed of the say the least, to find his bed occupied by a drunk. Not to mention he had stepped into some puke because he hadn't switched the light on. He had never worn those shoes again and Kester remembered that they had been his favorites back then.

He closed the door behind him, careful and softly so that Tala wouldn't hear it. He knew that Tala was in his bed with eyes wide awake. He couldn't sleep just like he couldn't sleep. But he supposed that would pass. At least he had slept well for a few nights in a row this week. It was just this last night hadn't been all to pleasant. He had been tossing and turning and the thoughts had kept him awake, just like earlier this evening. He rubbed his eyes subconsciously before walking to the bed and sitting on it.

Lop siding his head, he noticed how clean the room was. It never was this clean before. Not that Lauri was as messy as him but still there had been stuff scattered through the room on the floor like clothes. Mum must've done it, he figured. He closed his eyes and when he opened them again there were tears in his eyes. They started to spill over his cheeks and he let himself fall on his back onto the bed now. Everything was still so fresh, he mused. Lauri had been a year ago, their parents a month or so...

He sighed before looking at his watch again though this time not for the time. You could see the date on his watch too. He groaned as he saw that the little autumn vacation was almost over and he was sure Tala would kick his ass right back to university. They had been staying back in their hometown for quit some time now and had hardly been back to university or college or their apartments in the big city. He knew Tala was dropping out of college and there was nobody to stop him now because he sure as hell wouldn't be able to. Lauri would've been able to, he knew that and he couldn't help but feel a little twinge of guilt because of that. He wished he had the ability to do that, to make Tala stay in college.

He really didn't want to go to university. He knew he wouldn't be able to concentrate now. He'd be worrying to much about Tala and his heart just wouldn't be in it. Besides he figured a little break hadn't hurt anyone before. He was turning nineteen this January and he didn't have to listen to Tala no more. But he also knew that his brother could be quit persuasive and that they would start the argument and two hours later he'd be back in his apartment in the city. Oh well at least Bakuten wasn't far away from university. One hour and 30 minutes tops, if you drove with the car. The bus took a little longer because it followed the main road while most cars took the short cut. He would take the short cut if it wasn't for the tiny fact that he didn't have a drivers license or a car. Tala would drive him but his car was in the repair shop.

Suddenly something caught his attention, a photograph stuck to the wall with tape. He sat up right again and gently pulled the photograph of the wall. A soft smile appeared upon his lips. On the photograph were he, Tala and Lauri. He remembered when this was taken. Back when they were little, he had been seven, Tala nine and Lauri ten, and they had to go on summer camp for the first time, and the last. Summer camp had been horrible, the kids that were there were so stuck-up and snotty. It really had bothered his two older brothers, especially Tala. So they had ended up playing some jokes on the other kids and had pretty much been kicked out of the summer camp. Their parents had wondered why, after all they were such gorgeous, red haired 'angels'. Uhuh the only angel out of the three of them was he, always had been, always would be. Tala had a temper sometimes that could easily explode at any random moment just because you said something wrong, plus he was easily suspicious of people. And sometimes he left his polite manners back at home and he had the habit to rebel to just about anything. Not to mention the sexual comments that came out of his mouth. Not quite an angel. And well Lauri was Lauri. Despite the white he wasn't quite an angel either. On the contrary to what most people thought Lauri wasn't one that would very willingly lend a hand to someone he barely knew. He didn't see the point in that. Plus his grumpiness in the morning really didn't help his case either. He himself however was the example of an angel, truly he was. Sweet, shy, always ready to lend a hand, never grumpy, modest...

Yup, all the good trades had ended up in his lap, yup... Okay he lied, nobody ever said an angel had to be trustworthy, he thought with a small whistle, right? If they would've heard that, he'd be so death. Thank god that there were no mind readers on earth. He smiled.

He let himself fall back onto his back and stared at the ceiling with a smile on his face. Only that smile didn't last for very long as a noise on the other side of the room caught his attention. He twisted his head towards it and his eyes grew wide.

His blue eyes were glued to one of the drawers of Lauri's desk. It was...moving. Kester blinked as he slowly sat up now before rubbing his eyes and looking at thedrawer again to see if he had seen it right the first time. He had because it was still moving, as if it was trying to open itself. It scared the piep out of him and he wasn't quit sure what he was suppose to do now.

Slowly rising from the bed, his eyes never left the desk and the drawer. He sincerely hoped he had fallen asleep on the bed and this was a dream, or rather a nightmare. But something in the back of his mind told him that this wasn't. But if it wasn't just that, then what was making the drawer move like that. There had to be logical explanation for it then, right? His feet dropped to the ground and he started to move towards the desk, in an ever so slow pace.

When he reached the desk, the drawer suddenly stopped moving and Kester let out a sigh of relief unconsciously. But his curiosity had been tripped and he wasn't going to let the subject go so quickly. Afterwards he just knew he was going to curse his curiosity, he thought as he let his hand touch the drawer before pulling it open...

He sighed relieved again. There was just some pencils and notebooks in there, nothing special. He was about to close the drawer when some light began to emanate from the back of it. He drew it open further...

Suddenly he was slammed backwards onto the ground by a big force. What the...? What did just happen? How did he...? Where did that light come from? He tried to look but the light was shining to brightly it was hard for him not to close his eyes at first sight. After a few minutes it started to dim, luckily, and Kester could see again. Everything seemed normal...

...of course save for the fact that there was a notebook flying in the air. But that was just minor abnormal. Really it was.

Kester could just slap himself silly. There was a notebook flying in the air and he was telling himself it was just minor abnormal? Yeah maybe the brain damage he had gotten after walking into that wall two years ago were finally deciding to show or maybe he was just that tired. He closed his eyes and then opened, closed and then opened, close, open, close, open. No matter how many time he did that, the notebook was still floating in the air so he finally just gave up. He put a hand to his head as if it were a gun and made it 'shoot'. Yep definitely not right there in his mind.

He sighed in defeat, he obviously could not make it go away. Might as well go along with it. He slowly stepped towards the notebook, all the while eying it suspiciously as if it would attack him any minute. Hey, just to be on the safe side. He wasn't scared or anything, just not right there in his mind. As he came closer to the notebook, he couldn't help but think there was something familiar about that notebook. But then it smacked him. That was the notebook Lauri used as diary. That was Lauri's diary!

He reached out for it, curiosity really getting the better of him now, totally forgetting what he had been thinking before. Lauri's dairy! He had that thing with him all the time, always! He never had left it behind, just incase Tala had gotten some weird idea in his head and would start searching for it. He almost touched the notebook now, just a few more millimeters, just a few mo...

Just as his fingers brushed the notebook it fell down back into the drawer. Kester stared at if for a few seconds and blinked. Okay this was just getting to weird, this just proved he really needed to get some sleep. He shook his head and closed the drawer with a slam before practically running out of the room. One thing he knew for sure, he wasn't going into that room again unless he was dragged in by his hair, kicking and screaming.


	2. chapter one

**Look out Below**

**By: Signourney**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own beyblade obviously. I do however own Kester and Drew.

**A.N: **Explanations XD Cheesy but I don't care. Figured it best to get that all out of the way so I didn't have to keep reminding myself to give you guys information. Might take a while before I get the plot line up and running in the story. Just wait patiently yes .

_And this one is for my inspirations out there. You guys know who you are wink _

**Chapter One – Captivity makes you grumpy**

A growl escaped his lips as exasperation became master of him. It itched on his back and for the life of him it wouldn't stop. Even though he kept scraping it up against the wall, it didn't help one bit. He couldn't scratch his back with one of his own two hands because he was chained to the wall with arms and feet and calling for the guards was just not an option. He would not give them the enjoyment of seeing him helpless even though it really seemed that he was already pretty helpless, chained against this horrible prison wall. Plus he really didn't want to see their mocking face, god knows they were already ugly enough to begin with.

Johnny Mcgregor, because that was who he was, looked around his prison cell. There wasn't even a window in this stupid place. And what was the point of having a cell that was incredibly high and huge and then chaining just one person in it. But that were his brains overworking again. He had already been chained up in this stupid prison for one night and that was more then he could take, even though he would never willingly admit that.

He felt his shoulder sting a little and then the rest of his body, and was immediately reminded of the battle earlier. After Kane had pointed out there were man coming to attack them, they had fought with all their might. However as the battle continued more and more man had come. They hadn't been as unprepared as he has thought. He, Kane and Michael hadn't been able to take much more at one point. And just at that point, the soldiers off the king had come. Joepie-tha-freakin-doo.

That was what they had needed so desperately, to see those jackasses. His features darkened as he remembered them appearing and he tensed a little. But they had been wounded and even though they had started out trying, they could hardly defend themselves and they had been taken as captives. However he had decided it would be a bad idea if they had all three of them so he and Michael had rebelled so Kane had been able to get away, luckily. He had chosen for Kane to get away because both and Michael were severely wounded and wouldn't have been able to get very far. Kane hadn't been as wounded as them, because of his great swordsmanship. He hated to admit but the blue haired boy was definitely a worthy opponent. He could swing that sword of his in a mean way. Of course he himself would've been able to do that too if he had actually paid attention in the lessons he had been trained to use a sword when he was younger.

But that was how he had ended up in this stupid prison cell. He wondered where Michael was. Probably in a prison cell similar to his. He really did worry about the other male, after all he wouldn't serve of much importance to them unlike him. After all, he was one of the rebel leaders that fought against the king.

This war that raged through the kingdom, it raged through it for years. He remembered that the war had started when he was five, maybe six even. Before the war, the kingdom had been relatively peaceful, reigned by the ever so calm king Victor and his wife. But things started to become tension filled when a family had stepped up to the plate. The father of the family had demanded he'd get the thrown, that he was the rightful heir. The man had turned out to be the mans older half-brother but that still gave him no right to take the thrown. However king Victor had made many enemies through the years and they were all but very eager to help destroy him. So a war started. The king soon loosed. In all of his years sitting up the thrown, he had never have to use force and there for had an army that you could call quite pathetic. The king and his wife were killed, their children had been too if an old men had not stepped up and had hid them away somewhere. Not many people knew where. Neither did king Victors half-brother, nor did he care to. He was happy finally having his thrown. However this peace wouldn't last long. Because only a year later and he was brutally murdered. The enemies of king Victor that had helped him, had been quick to turn against him. One in particular, Boris Balkov.

Many were appalled by the man becoming their king and still were, but there hadn't been much they could've done. He had an army that they hadn't been able to fight back to then. But the old man that had rescued the children of king Victor had started a small resistance group. It had grown and grown over the years into the full blown organization it was today. The man had died in battle many years back and he never had the privilege to know the man personally but he knew both of his grandsons. One of them was even rebel leader, together with him. The rebel leader was Hitoshi Kinomiya, the other Tyson Kinomiya. They were brothers though sometimes you really wouldn't guess they were just that.

There were four rebel leaders, each of them running their own side of the kingdom. There was Hitoshi Kinomiya who took care of the south together with his younger brother (though he was sure Tyson did nothing more then eat and eat), Ozuma Neville who took care of the east, Robert Jurgen who did the north and he, Johnny Mcgregor, did the west. Next to that each had their own task. Once a month they came together to plan some big attacks. Hmm, one of those little 'get-togethers' was coming up pretty soon.

And right now he could just kick himself for being such a stupid fucking arrogant prick of a bastard, not to mention stubborn pig headed end of a pigs but, to go along on that mission. Not that he would ever admit this out in the open, not even with a knife to his throat. He knew that if he went along, he should've brought more man, like Kane had told him to do. This really pained him to admit but the blue wonder boy had been right..again. But no, he had thought he could do this with just two man. He should've known he couldn't get away from those ever watchful eyes of that pair of birds that reported back to their master. But he had hoped and he had fucked up the mission. Sometimes arrogance could blind a man somewhat, not saying that he was that arrogant of course.

Johnny sighed and let his head hang down. He was eating himself up inside, and his stomach growling of hunger along with that wasn't overly pleasant either. He really wished right now that there was a window in this stupid prison cell. He had never much liked the dark and when he was having dark thoughts about himself, he really did want some light surrounding him. Not that there would be much light now, it was night after all. Not that it was very shiny in their kingdom anyway. The sun never shined down on them and there was a rather good reason for that.

* * *

Tala pricked his fork into whatever had been just dropped into his plate. It was very black and did he detect a bit of green there? It was suppose to be a pancake. Oke that was it, he was never letting Kester cook again because that would just cause the end of the world. Seriously, he had never in his life seen such icky food as what Kester had been cooking in the past few weeks, ever since they had grown tired of take out. Now he was no kitchen princess either but damn... The smell wasn't even pleasant, what the hell had he put in there? And how do you mess up pancakes anyway? This was more then his stomach could take in the morning and he could already feel it twist.

The plate disappeared from under his nose and he was rather relieved about that too. Just a few more seconds and he would've puked all over it. He looked up to meet the eyes of his younger brother. "No offence or anything, Kes, but I'd rather have cornflakes." The boy grinned at him with a "Can't blame you." and disappeared into the kitchen.

He stretched out lazily and for once he didn't have to yawn because yes Tala had slept for ten hours straight. As soon as his head had hit the pillow, he'd been snoring like sleeping beauty and he had woken up slightly more rested out then all of the mornings before. It was rather noticeable in his mood too. Plus he got the idea he wasn't the only one who had a nice night of sleep. Kester seemed to have gotten his spirit back a little though he couldn't help but notice something bothered him. Something that hadn't been bothering him the previous day. But he was in a too good of a mood to ruin it now. He'd ask Kester about it later, he was sure it would still be there. He frowned at that. Like always, worries never seem to want to leave them alone. Especially not Kester, since he always was such a worrier.

But he was more rested now and he would take back the role of older brother now. Kester seemed to have acted like that ever since Lauri had died and he didn't like that. He was the big brother here for crying out loud, with two years of age difference too. It had been a fault to show his weakness, a very large one. He'd be strong now again, strong for him.

The boy emerged out of the kitchen with one bowl of cornflakes. He put it in front of Tala on the table before sitting down himself. Tala frowned at the one bowl of cornflakes. "You're not eating?"

"No, I'm not hungry yet. I'll just grab something later." Kester replied, staring in front of him, not bothering to look up to his older brother. His minds wandered back to the evening before, a rather strange one at that. He still couldn't quit comprehend what he had seen. It had been to weird and almost supernatural really. And supernatural was just one thing he did not believe in unless he saw it with his own eyes. Of course he had seen it with his own eyes. But still he couldn't help but think that maybe it had been just something off his overactive imagination plus the lack of sleep to top it all of. Maybe he could check it out later. To see if it did it again when he was in the room. He knew he had said and he quoted himself on it _'One thing he knew for sure, he wasn't going into that room again unless he was dragged in by his hair, kicking and screaming.'_ But he had been overreacting a little. In the moment it had been so scary. But he had slept well. Maybe he should do that more often, get himself scared out of his wits so he could sleep better. He smirked at that thought. Better not or else he'd end up having a lot of grey hairs before he was twenty.

Something suddenly poked him in the arm and as he looked up he noticed it was Tala that was pricking a fork in his arm. "You do realize I'm not eatable right." He asked as he eyed the fork that seemed to disappear into the fabric of his sweatshirt.

Tala smirked but didn't stop the pricking. "Aw and here I thought I had found a delicious treat." It made Kester roll his eyes at his older brother. He could be so weird sometimes but yeah he himself couldn't complain either, he figured though he was pretty sure he got that weird vibe from the one next to him.

"Stop pricking holes in me already." He complained before he pouted a little. Not that, that would work on him but he could try right?

This time Tala rolled his eyes before snorting. Honestly, he'd known the boy for nineteen years of his own twenty one years he'd been walking around, did he still think that trick would work on him. "Right." He put down the fork. "As I was trying to ask you before you decided to ignore me." Small glare. "You want to come into town with me. Bryan is coming tonight and we need to get some more food in the house."

"And beer." The boy muttered and Tala grinned. Yes Bryan did like his beer on the Friday evening, no use in trying to make him break that habit eh. Not that Bryan was a drunk or anything but he just liked his beers on the Friday night. His best friend was a creature of habits and silence and didn't like changes much. "But sure I'll come. But I do hope they aren't going to stare at us like last time." Kester said as he remembered how he and Tala had walked through Bakuten last week. Everyone had stared at them, with those eyes as if they had actually cared about them. Some might but he knew the majority didn't. And that hadn't even been the worst part. The whispers were worse. They weren't even whispers actually, just soft talking. He knew Tala had heard them, he had seen it on his face though he had tried to hide it. He hadn't and for once he had blessed his bad ears.

"I'm sure they won't. They must've found better things then us, poor souls, to gossip about by now." Yep living in a small town could be oh so fun. That's why he and Kester (and Lauri when he still went to college) stayed mostly in the big city in vacations though they had come and visit their parents frequently enough.

He picked up his fork and started to eat is cornflakes with that. Not that he got much into his mouth that way. He could already feel that mocking gaze on him when he realized with what he was eating. Not many people expected it, but his younger brother could be quite sarcastic when he wanted to be. So could he but people already knew that of him and Lauri had a humor of a joker a little and with that calm exterior of his, sometimes people had wondered if they should take him serious or not which usually had resulted in the most humorous of situations.. Kester was shy and that kept him from becoming close to people quickly so they never got the know that side of him. He got the idea sometimes that people scared Kester.

"I thought you were brought up well enough to know that you should know not to eat your cornflakes with a fork during the week. We only do that on Sunday."

* * *

Johnny lifted his head when he heard the lock of his prison being opened before the door swung open. He let it hang again after that. He really didn't need to look up to know who were currently standing in the door opening. Brooklyn Kingston and Garland Balkov, the two little pet dolls of Boris. He despised the two, he just couldn't understand how they kept crawling up that mans ass and actually like it. The thought only already made him sick to his stomach.

Brooklyn stepped into the prison cell, a soft mysterious smile on his lips. But then that smile was always there. Garland followed him suit, a smirk present on his features, one you would find present on his features most of the time.

Hearing someone come closer, Johnny lifted his head and saw it was Brooklyn. Nobody could not recognize that orange hair and those green eyes. His piercing, glaring violet eyes met calm green eyes with a hint of...was that gentleness? It couldn't be. Brooklyn Kingston was known for a lot of things but certainly not gentleness though he was sure the man would call himself that nonetheless. He really didn't muse about it any longer because his stomach had chosen the unfortunate moment to growl and howl for food.

An amused twinkle appeared in those green eyes. "Are you hungry, Jonathan?" He asked as a smirk replaced the smile.

"No." He said with a stubborn tilt of the head which only seemed to further amuse the other man. "And don't call me Jonathan. It's already bad enough that prick does." He muttered darkly before glaring at Brooklyn. The only other person who ever called him Jonathan and continued doing so with his head still attached to his body, was Robert Jurgen. And the only reason his head was still attached to his body was because he was one of the rebel leaders. And _only_ because of that reason.

"Aw but you don't mean that. I'm sure you are hungry, Jonathan." He slowly spoke out the sentence as if to only annoy him and he seemed to intentionally pronounce his name even slower. As if he were talking to a five year old boy. And that infuriated Johnny even more, and that was what he had hoped, to get an opening to squeeze some information out of him in the process.

"The name is Johnny." He growled, his violet eyes darkening, his hands already itching to twist the mans neck.

"So they say." Brooklyn replied softly. He met those eyes again and could only be amused with the younger male as he continued to glare. Even though he was just seventeen he had already made it quite far, this descendant of the McGregor clan. He was the youngest of the rebel leaders, the others being over twenty already, and probably the only one of the four who didn't always seem to use his head which got him into trouble like this though he had to admit, this was the first time they had actually been able to catch him. "Well Jonathan McGregor, I think it's time we'll have a little chat."

"If you think I'll fucking tell you anything, you're dead wrong." Johnny spat out, narrowing his eyes at the other male.

"Who ever said we were counting on you telling anything?" Brooklyn smirked, before he looked behind him to Garland. "Isn't that right, Garland." He didn't get an answer but the look on Garlands face should've been enough. Johnny shuddered involuntarily at that expression. Garland was rather known for his painful torture ways and if he didn't talk, torture would sure follow and Garland would enjoy every minute of it. It was obvious that Boris Balkov had raised the boy single handedly, that much was clear.

"Yeah right." He muttered darkly. "What are you doing here this early anyway. I'm sure it's only just morning. Aren't you suppose to be having your beauty sleep still now. God knows you two need it."

Garland frowned at him for a second but Brooklyn continued smiling. Did nothing affect that guy? "Now that wasn't very nice, Jonathan." Brooklyn told him, lop siding his head a bit before he outstretched his hand to cup Johnny's cheek. Which the seventeen year old did not exactly appreciate. He turned his head and bit down in the hand of Brooklyn, hard. Brooklyn quickly drew his hand back as soldiers came forward immediately to punish Johnny for this action. However the orange haired boy shook his head at them and they backed down. He turned back to Johnny, as he nurtured his hand a bit. "A bit grumpy aren't we."

"Yeah well being stuck to a wall the entire night does seem to do that to your mood." Johnny bit out.

"Guards, make him loose from the wall and then bring him to 'the room'." The way he said 'the room' didn't bode well for Johnny, at all. And the growing smirk on Garlands face didn't help his worries either. This was going to hurt.

A lot!

* * *

Kester pushed against the door of the shop with his shoulder, his arms being a bit full with bags of groceries. But the door wasn't quit swinging open yet which made the red haired youth frown a little before ceasing his apparent futile attempts to open the door. He looked up with his blue eyes to the door and frowned until he noticed that it was the door you entered the shop through. The door only opened from the outside. He sighed before he walked to the other door and again put his weight against the door. This time the door did swing open and Kester walked outside. "Stupid door." He murmured.

Okay, why again had he not grabbed a shopping cart? He growled as he walked away from the shop slowly, balancing the three bags in his arms, trying desperately to make those apples, that were at the top of one of the bags, not fall out. So far so good, so far so good..woooh there almost went one. He had to be more careful. He was aiming to reach their bikes who just happened to be across the street. A street that was rather busy. Great. He sighed, no other way but to wait for an opening to cross the street then.

He waited and waited and had expected that Tala would've been out of the shop now too. In the shop they had divided their shopping list and they had arrived at the register at the same time. However Tala had noticed he had forgot something and had said Kester should just pay and go to bikes and then wait for him. So he had. He was wondering what took his brother so long before he noticed that there was an opening and started to cross the street.

However because of the bags he carried he couldn't see the street so well, or more so what was on it. He tripped over a large rock and fell flat on his face. "Damn it." He muttered as he watched helplessly as all the groceries, he had tried so desperately before from falling out of the bags, were rolling all over the street. Luckily the streets business seemed to have calmed down somewhat but that didn't mean there were no cars no more. Great, this was just his luck huh.

There was a honk from a car. Kester looked up and saw a car swerve with a bow around him, flattening one of the tomatoes in the process and Kester winced at that, poor tomato, before the driver gave him the middle finger. He frowned. As if he had done it on purpose. Idiotic man. He drew his knees under him and started to put the groceries back into the bag. He really felt the urge to just get some new apples and tomatoes, as he put them back into the bag also. They were a bit dirty and some of the tomatoes were dented. He noticed one more apple laying not to far away from him and started crawling towards it.

Just as he grabbed the apple, he heard a "HEY, WATCH OUT." and the screeching of brakes from a bike before he was pushed down flat onto his stomach by something suddenly pressing onto him. What the...? God what was on him? He strained his neck a little to see and noticed that a boy with blue hair was sprawled on top of him, on his stomach as well. There was a bike next to him, the steering on his legs.

"Uhm mind getting of off me?" He asked, his voice so soft it was barely above a whisper. But the blue haired boy seemed to have heard, how was beyond him, because he looked at him before grinning sheepishly. "Sorry." He mouthed before he started to move, something jabbed into Kesters back, which felt a lot like an elbow, before the pressure was gone off of him.

Kester drew his legs from under the bikes steering and scrambled to his feet. He dusted himself off before he looked up to the other boy. The boy was taller then him but not by much. His hair was rather short in the back, his bangs being a little longer. He was dressed in a thick dark purple sweatshirt and faded blue jeans. In all of the time, Kester hadn't noticed the boy was looking at him in the same way, but he did now. However his gaze was more intense. It made him feel uncomfortable and he quickly looked to the ground, feeling his cheeks warm up. "I-I'm sorry. I-it was m-my fault." He stammered out. He hated himself for his shyness and for the lack of being able to say a intelligent reply without stammering but he couldn't help himself. Every time he felt uncomfortable or whenever he didn't know the other person he did it and there was nothing he could do about it. And now it was both, he was surprised he could even get out a decent word.

The other boy just grinned at the reaction and shrugged. "It was just as much my fault as yours. I should've looked where I was cycling." He stated with a nonchalance Kester wished he had. "Oh well I guess that's what you get from not listening to your older brother. He had said I shouldn't be wearing these in when I'm cycling." He said as he pointed to his left ear in which an ear phone was. "He says they distract me and I guess they do huh though I do think he overreacted a bit. They aren't going to be the death of me. Nope his death glares will be though." He laughed at himself, looking at the boy to see if he was still listening.

Kester dared to take a glance at the other boy and was met by brown eyes and instantly dropped his gaze back to the ground. How could the boy talk to him so easily? They didn't even know each other yet he was talking to him with such ease, as if they had known each other for a while.

Suddenly one of his grocery bags were shoved into his arms. He looked up, his blue eyes huge and the boy just smiled at him before winking. Kester watched as he put his bike at the side of the road before picking up the other two grocery bags. "So where do these go?" He asked, lop siding his head a little.

"Uhm." He pointed across the street, to the bikes.

"Alright." He started to walk across the street, without looking if a car came. Luckily for him there weren't any. Kester stared at him and didn't make any move to follow him at all and the boy seemed to notice this because he turned around when he almost was across the street. "Well are you coming or not? You can't dwell on my good looks forever you know!"

Kesters head snapped up at that and looked straight at the guy. Was that for real? He shook his head and walked across the street, muttering something about 'weirdoes, and just his luck' all the way. When he reached the other side, he walked past the other boy, who had been waiting for him, without looking at him but he knew the boy followed him. He reached his bike and put the grocery bag into one of his side bags attached to his bike. He held the other side bag open and the boy did the bags he held into it.

Kester couldn't help but look up and again met the brown eyes. He held the gaze for a few seconds now before looking away. The brown eyes seemed to look at him questioningly. "Thanks for the help." He whispered. God why couldn't he raise his voice just a little. The other boy must think he was a moron by now.

"That's okay. I don't mind, don't exactly have anything better to do anyway." The boy shrugged before he stuck his hand out. "I'm Drew Hiwatari by the way."

Kester stared at the hand for a while and wasn't sure what to do. It seemed his brains had left him and he couldn't remember whatever he was suppose to do. "I washed my hands this morning so it's okay to take it."

Finally he took the hand and shook it. "Are you always like this?" The boy, Drew questioned him, his voice low, not releasing Kesters hand.

"W-why do y-you a-ask?" Kester stammered once more and sighed heavily at himself.

"Was just wondering if I should take it personally that you don't look at me directly and when you do, you look away." There was something in the boys voice that suggested that he was slightly hurt if that was the case.

"No, I..uh. I-" Kester looked up, his eyes big. He hadn't meant for the boy to think that, he hadn't. God he really did curse his shyness right now.

"Oh good." Drew smiled softly at him, releasing Kesters hand now. "It was always a possibility that you disliked me at first 'bump in', but luckily that isn't the case then." He grinned at himself a little as if he was enjoying a joke inside his head before he looked him right in the eye. "So what's your name? Is only fair you told yours, I told mine. Don't tell me I have to pull it out of you." He said with a small wink.

"Oh uhm my name is Kester Ivanov." Kester told him, as he inhaled a deep breath.

"Wow and without stammering, that must be a big accomplishment for you." Drew mocked before he smirked.

Kesters head shot up again, his eyes narrowing as he looked at Drew. But Drew just grinned. "I was just teasing you a little you know. It's tempting."

"Why?"

"You ask why? Isn't it obvious? It always it is tempting to tease someone who will react to it and you obviously do." Drew looked behind him before putting his hand on Kesters shoulder. "But I'm off. It was nice getting to know you and I'm sure we'll meet again." He stated with a small wink, making Kester blush again. With that he dashed to the other side of the street and cycled of on his bike. Kester watched him go with a small frown on his face. That encounter had been slightly weird.

A hand landed on his shoulder, startling him. He looked up and saw that it was Tala. "Hey. What took you so long?" He asked.

"Ooh I ran across an old schoolmate and she sort of latched onto me." Tala grinned. "Some guy had to pry her of off me." He shook his head. Yep the girl had still been the same as he remembered: insane and touchy. He bit his lip as he remembered she'd slapped him right there in the middle of the shop, on his ass and had asked him something that certainly was not repeatable. He knew he had a fine ass but that just went to far. "But who was that guy you were talking to just now?" He questioned. "A friend of yours?" He thought he knew all of Kesters friends.

Kester shook his head. "No, I sort of 'bumped' into him or rather he into me." He was in no mood to tell Tala what had happened and be laughed at. "He said his name was Drew, Drew Hiwatari." He shrugged. "I can't remember having seen him around before though, maybe he just moved here."

"Yeah but he lived here before." Tala told him, frowning. Hiwatari huh? He'd never thought that he'd see anyone of that family again. A few years back the Hiwatari family had moved to another country after loudly letting know that Bakuten was to low for them. The entire town had spoken shame of it and he didn't doubt that they hadn't forgotten it just yet. So why risk public humiliation by coming back?

* * *

"So that's them then." Drew asked as he watched the boy he met earlier get on his bike and cycle away with the other guy. He frowned. He hadn't expected the boy to be like that. The way he had spoken about him had made him seem so different but then maybe he shouldn't judge the boy on first appearance. At least one thing he had said was true, there was something in him that made you want to protect him. And that's what he would do.

"Yes." A voice next to him told him, rid of all emotions. Drew turned his head towards him, eying him for a while, watching as the other stared in front of him. The one next to him was Kai Hiwatari, his older brother and not one of the nicest persons you could bump into. He wasn't half bad though if you tried to get to know him, just not much of a talker. He had the same brown eyes as him but Kai's eyes hardly held any sort of emotion in them. A part of his wall. They were just cold if you looked into them which Drew tried to avoid. Besides he didn't need to look into Kai's eyes to know what he was thinking or what mood he was in. He knew him well enough to detect it in his movements and voice. He was used to those eyes. The hair was different though in appearance. Kai had two tones of blue hair, in front a lighter one, the back a darker shade. His hair was a tad bit messy and a little long in the back.

People always seemed to walk with a bow around Kai which he supposed he could understand to a certain degree. Kind of hard not to get scared of a guy with a face that never shows what he is thinking. Plus he figured the blue shark fins on his brothers cheek were a nice addition to that. Kai had started wearing those shark fins ever since they had moved away from Bakuten years back. Drew had never asked why, he wouldn't get a straight answer anyhow.

"I don't understand your need to get to know the boy." Kai told him. "If you get to involved there is no turning back, Drew." He looked at his younger brother who merely shrugged at the comment.

"I know I know. You don't have to keep telling me that you know." Drew told him as he put his hands in his pockets. "But if that is them then don't we owe them some sort of loyalty? I mean..." He trailed off, looking to the ground.

"We're already loyal to them because of the cause we are fighting for Drew. There is nothing more we can do but protect them for now."

"I still think we should tell them. I know what you and Mystel are trying to do and it's not that I don't agree, its just that..." He trailed off again as he watched his brother turn around and walk away. "Hey, where are you going? That's a no then? Kai? Kai! I hate it when he does that." Drew growled before he ran after his brother. He really did.

* * *

Tala coughed, waving the smoke away from around him. He frowned as he looked at the pan in front of him which was the source the smoke was coming from. Coughing a few times again, he looked at the shorter figure next to him. "Take out?"

Kester nodded affirmative. "And then you say I can't cook! At least I didn't start a fire."

"No you didn't but your food is definitely a danger to the public health." Tala chuckled when he saw the small pout appear on Kesters face and punched him friendly against the shoulder.

"You go call the Chinese and be sure to order enough." The boy nodded and walked out of the kitchen. He heard him pick up the phone and dialing before he heard the soft voice. It surprised him that the boy still had a hint of shyness in his voice, even on the phone.

He turned back to the kitchen and he pulled a small disgusted face. "Then I'll try to clean up this mess." He murmured as he looked around before walking to the window and opening it. That way the kitchen could get some fresh air and maybe some of this smoke would pull away. Then he went to the pan and looked in it. All black and definitely not eatable. "Oh yeah Bryan would love this."

He grabbed a spatula and started scraping all of it out of the pan into the disposable container. So they were eating Chinese again. Oh well rather then that whatever him or Kester could make. This really made you wonder how they ever had survived in the city up 'till now. He had always had Bryan to take care of food. That guy can cook! But Kester didn't have that cause he had no one he shared his apartment with. But he had lived rather close to Lauri... He sighed and his blue eyes saddened. Lauri had been able to cook, well not anything complicated but the basic things and he only knew those things because he had been ordered to help in the kitchen of school after getting another detention for not doing his homework.

The doorbell rang and with shouting a quick "I'll get it!" Tala stormed out of the kitchen to the door. He swung the front door open, a smirk plastered on his face. But it soon froze, not because it was not the person he had expected because it certainly was but the person had something sitting on it's head and saying that he was dirty would be the understatement of the year.

He started laughing, he just couldn't help it. The look on his best friends face was just priceless. His lavender eyes were narrowed and glaring right at him yet his mouth had taken a pouting form which was just so weird looking on his face. He had a few scratches on his face and his purple hair wasn't exactly the same color anymore. It seemed to have mixed with dirt. And then on top of his head sat a red furred cat, who sat there with it's head tilted up as if it were king/queen of the world.

Frowning, the other male growled. "It's not funny Tala." He tried to keep his glare set on the red head but he couldn't help but feel glad that he was laughing like this again.

"No indeed, it's fucking hilarious!"

* * *

Yes so that was the first chapter and wow I updated fast for a change :P Anyway my eyes are hurting right now so if there are any mistakes, forgive me okees. 


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